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January 23, 2013
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Yesterday I bought my first DW. I bought it for a fair price and it filled a nagging .357" hole in my personal armory. It is a Model 15-2 VH6 (SN B00xxxx) in really nice cosmetic condition. The cylinder, however, looks someone tried to tap and thread some of the charging holes! I suspect these markings are either crude tooling or a careless attempt to clean the chambers. What do I do with this, try to find a replacement cylinder or live with it? Thank you.
Scored chamber walls
DW with his new little brother
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Dans Club
December 4, 2011
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to the forum! It almost looks like somebody tried cleaning the chambers with a steel brush chucked in a drill, producing the spiral scoring. Can't tell how deep they are, try a small pointy tool and see if you can catch it on the scoring. You may be able to polish that out with Flitz or perhaps something more agressive like 2000 grit but start fine and work up.
BTW that is a low serial number on that gun.
Others will be along to offer more experience than I, so keep an eye on this topic.
Anything worth doing is worth doing well.
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If a man designed it, and a man built it, then a man can fix it.
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November 17, 2008
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Welcome to the group. Perhaps someone reamed the cylinder. See if a slug will push through the cylinder or is it loose. Assuming you have a slug that is. But the main question is does it shoot well?If so I would not get too stressed over it.
LB
Wisdom is merely the realization of how little one knows, therefore I am wise.
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January 24, 2009
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The marks do look odd, but unless it gives you trouble when shooting, I wouldn't stress too much either. BTW, nice work on cleaning that cylinder, it looks spic-n-span!
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January 23, 2013
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Thanks for the quick responses.
Scorpio, the cylinders fail the sharp, pointy tool test. The scoring is probably too deep to polish away. BTW the SN is B006xxx. Any idea when it was made?
lbruce, I don't have any slugs but I can't push the business end of a jacketed .38 spl round in far enough to touch the brass to the cylinder. Imperfect test, I know. I'll try to find a slug. I haven't been to the range yet...
Thanks, Charger Fan. Still working on cleaning the pistol. I don't think she saw a lot of use - most likely sat in a safe for a few decades. Hope to shoot soon.
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March 2, 2008
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The "B" Serial Numbers are much less common. Is this a Palmer, MA gun?
I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman "Were is the Self Help Section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.
George Carlin
January 23, 2013
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Thanks for your interest, Steve. Here is a picture of the SN. What can you tell me? I'm also including another pic of the grooves in the charging holes.
January 23, 2013
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A friend of mind has a Dan Wesson .44, and the chambers were so rough it looked as if someone had run a tap into each one. Dan Wesson was still in business then, and they first polished out the chambers; they were now oversize. They ended up replacing the cylinder.
After this repair, it was an accurate, durable revolver. All that weight made it a pleasure to shoot, even with full power .44 mags.
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That is a very interesting serial number on a Monson 15-5. All mine are numbers only, no prefixes. My Monson 740 has a letter prefix as do my 22's, 32's 41's, 44's and 40's but the 15-2's are all numbers.
Anything worth doing is worth doing well.
My father
If a man designed it, and a man built it, then a man can fix it.
My grandfather
February 11, 2010
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I had a 80's era S&W model 66 that had those same machine marks, also I seen simular
circle marks in shotgun barrels, like you said, not deep enough to catch a pin tip but
very visual. The only problem it would possibly cause is it may take a little more
effort to get clean. If your a collector it will probably bug you to death, if your a
shooter....forget about it.
-Blacktop
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March 2, 2008
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Serial number information for the "357B****" guns is pretty slim, the only other one I know of is believed to be a 1992 gun, I'd guess this one is too. Manufacturing moved from Monson to Palmer in 1992. That scoring is pretty unattractive, I'd be curious how it shoots and if accuracy is affected.
I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman "Were is the Self Help Section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.
George Carlin
January 23, 2013
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Thanks for the reassurance, Blacktop. I'm not one to throw out the baby with the bath water. I realize my firearms are man made and subject to flaws. I'm good with a cosmetic defect as long as function is unaffected.
My guns are not safe queens. They all serve to protect my family, for occasional recreation, and/or have some sentimental value. With that said, I try to spend my money wisely and buy the best tool for the job. I wanted a large frame revolver with a 4-6" barrel, the flexibility to share ammo with my existing .38 spl revolvers, and magnum capability. The Dan Wesson seemed to be the perfect balance of form and function for the right price. Bottom line: I will not know for sure until I spend some time at the range. I'm just being lazy and depending on others to tell me I haven't made a bad choice.
Steve, I get mixed info on the serial number. I suspect you are right and that my pistol is later production. The trigger stop screw is in the frame and most of the frame is turning plum - probably due to spotty QC. Late production is also a good explanation for the rough cylinder. I hope she's a good target shooter but I'm sure she could defend my home regardless. I hope to spend some time at the range soon.
I guess I could load up with .38 spl LRN and fill those grooves with lead
.
February 11, 2010
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You actually are right 
My first 15-2 had tooling mark in the barrel running parallel
to the rifling grooves, I never saw that before and came here to this wonderful place.
A gunsmith told me to run a bunch of lead rounds through her and she smoothed right
up.
The plum frames come and go, some worse than others, some not at all.
Something about silica levels in the castings, Ruger had the same problem back
in that era. Your doesn't look plum in your pictures so it must just be in certain
light.
-Blacktop
January 23, 2013
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Too funny, Blacktop. I guess I'll have to stay away from Hoppe's No. 9 in order to keep my "repair work" intact.
The plum color is most noticeable in the last pic I posted above. It does not bother me - it is a rather pleasant hue. The side plate, however, is as black as midnight.
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March 2, 2008
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We call that purple hue a "Barney" gun, named for the purple dinosaur. This condition has been found on some Rugers as well, and it does indeed have to do with the silica content of the steel and the way that affects the bluing over time.
I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman "Were is the Self Help Section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.
George Carlin
January 23, 2013
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Hence the "B" serial number?
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February 22, 2009
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AKp47 said
Hence the "B" serial number?
Ah, you've learned well- in a short time.... and the "S" sometimes stands for scratched, but that can be fixed with 3M!
Technically, the glass is always full; half liquid, half air....
January 23, 2013
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Maybe that B stands for Badly Bored cylinder.
November 23, 2012
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Youe could hone the cylinders to get a smooth finish.....here is some info. on how to do it......
http://www.ktgunsmith.com/polish_chambers.htm
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